Beowulf
Part One
EPIC
Chapter 1, Grade 12
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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California Standards
Reading Standard 3.6
– Analyze the way in which authors through
the centuries have used archetypes drawn
from myth and tradition in literature.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Before You Read
Standards Starter
What are some characters in books, movies, or
TV programs that can be described as:
– a wise and brave leader?
– a loyal companion?
– a mysterious stranger?
– a villain who plots against a person or group?
– a naive young person seeking to become an adult?
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Preteaching
Standards Starter
These are some of the
basic types of characters
in literature, called
archetypes, that appear
in literary traditions
around the world.
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Before You Read
Make the Connection
Quickwrite
– Write about a contemporary hero, real or fictional,
and the challenges he or she faces.
– Describe your hero, and then briefly analyze him
or her using these questions.
» What sort of evil or oppression does your hero confront?
» What is your hero’s motivation for confronting evil?
» What virtues does your hero represent?
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Before You Read
Literary Focus
The Epic Hero
– Beowulf is ancient England’s
hero, but he is also an
archetype, or perfect
example, of an epic hero.
– In other times, in other cultures,
the hero has taken the shape
of King Arthur or Gilgamesh,
or Sundiata or Joan of Arc.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Before You Read
Literary Focus
The Epic Hero
– In modern America, the hero may
be a real person, like Martin Luther
King, Jr., or a fictional character,
like Shane in the western novel of
the same name.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Before You Read
Literary Focus
The Epic Hero
– The hero archetype in Beowulf is the dragon
slayer, representing a besieged community facing
evil forces that lurk in the cold darkness.
– Grendel, the monster lurking in the depths of the
lagoon, may represent all of those threatening
forces.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Before You Read
Literary Focus
The Epic Hero
– Beowulf, like all epic heroes,
possesses superior physical
strength and supremely
ethical standards.
– He embodies the highest ideals
of Anglo-Saxon culture.
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Before You Read
Literary Focus
The Epic Hero
– In his quest, he must
defeat monsters that
embody dark, destructive
powers.
– At the end of the quest,
he is glorified by the
people he has saved.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Before You Read
Literary Focus
The Epic Hero
– If you follow current events and the
stories of people who have gained
freedom after years of oppression,
you will still see this impulse to
glorify those people who have set
them free.
– You might also see this impulse
in the impressive monuments
in Washington D.C.
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Direct Teaching
Literary Focus
Epic Convention: Boasting
– Boasting is a tradition of epic
poetry and Odysseus does it
often in the Odyssey.
– You may consider boasting
offensive, but in the world of
Beowulf, it serves as both an
implicit promise to help and a
presentation of credentials.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Direct Teaching
Literary Focus
Archetype
– If Beowulf is an archetype of an
epic hero, of what is Grendel an
archetype?
– What details support your answer?
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Direct Teaching
Literary Focus
Rhyme
– These lines demonstrate how translators
(Burton Raffel, in this case) can use rhyme
in surprising ways.
– There is no end rhyme but:
» hot and thought and know and gnaw
are examples of approximate rhyme.
» crowded and rows are an example of eye rhyme.
– You’ll appreciate them more if you read aloud.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Direct Teaching
Reading Skills
Making Inferences
– Why do you think
Beowulf allows
Grendel to slaughter
one of the Geats
before taking action?
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Direct Teaching
Reading Skills
Reading Inverted Sentences
– In many sentences in this narrative, the subject is
preceded by one or more descriptive phrases.
– Making the subject come first, can help you
understand this better. Reread lines 64-66.
» The building-shaped and fastened with iron,
inside and out, artfully worked-stood firm.
– Try it with the sentence beginning
“Down the aisles the battle swept” (II.59-61)
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
History: Herot
– Archaeologists have confirmed
that Herot was built of wood
held together with iron bands.
– The gabled roof was overlaid
with gold, and the floor was
inlaid.
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Direct Teaching
Reading Skills
Enrichment
– How does the passage at
the end of page 23 show
a tension between the
paganism of Beowulf’s day
and the Christianity of the
recorder’s day?
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Direct Teaching
Literary Focus
Epic Hero
– As this episode ends, what details
remind you that Beowulf is a hero of
epic proportions, able to represent a
people and their values?
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
History: The Geats
– The Geats lived in what is
now southwestern Sweden.
– Higlac, king of the Geats
and Beowulf’s kinsman,
was killed during a raid
on the Franks in A.D. 521.
» The complete epic of Beowulf forecasts
the Geats’ defeat by the Swedes.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Direct Teaching
Literary Focus
• Epic Hero
– Many princes and leaders travel to Herot after
Beowulf’s victory.
» How does this add to Beowulf’s status as
an epic hero?
• Imagery
– What images in the description of Grendel’s lair
associate Grendel with death and darkness?
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Direct Teaching
Reading Skills
Re-reading
– Remember to re-read when
you lose track of the action
or setting.
– What can you learn about
the setting by re-reading II.
197-203?
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Direct Teaching
Literary Focus
Epic Hero
– What characteristics of
an epic hero does Beowulf
display during his fight
with Grendel’s mother?
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Direct Teaching
Reading Skills
Rearranging Syntax
– How might you rearrange the words in II.
236-237 and why?
» Syntax like this often appears in the poem.
– Find the noun phrase to which the appositive
Ruler of the Heavens in I. 240 refers.
» What would be a more common syntax for
that long clause?
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
Culture: Christian Parallels
– Critics who trace Christian parallels in the
epic suggest that the light that blazes when
Grendel’s mother dies indicates God’s
favor upon Beowulf.
– Similarly, Beowulf’s immersion in the lake
is seen as a kind of baptism – a type of
purification before he achieves his goal.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Direct Teaching
Reading Skills
Evaluating Plot
– Do you think that
Beowulf’s search for
the body of Grendel and
his beheading of it add
anything to the story?
» Why or why not?
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Direct Teaching
Literary Focus
Verbal Irony
– What words and expressions
indicate that Grendel is using
irony in his storytelling?
– What does the irony suggest
about his personality?
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Direct Teaching
Literary Connections
Scop: Anglo-Saxon Storyteller
– The “old Shaper” refers to a
storyteller.
– Since the days of the bard
Homer, who was rumored to
be blind, storytellers are often
depicted as blind harpists.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Direct Teaching
Reading Informational
Materials
Characterizing the
Historical Period
– Why might a write use the
concept of speed to define
a particular historical age?
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
Culture: Salt
– So crucial was salt to
people’s lives long ago
that the world salary
referred to the money
paid to Roman soldiers
so that they could buy it.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Direct Teaching
Reading Informational
Materials
• Finding Supporting Details
– The main idea of this paragraph is that life
expectancy in the Anglo-Saxon age was short.
» What details does the author cite to prove this point?
• Characterizing the Historical Period
– What metaphor does the author use
to sum up the millennial period in Europe?
» What does the author mean by this?
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